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We investigate outcomes associated with the turnover of unskilled workers, isolating its effects on revenue, cost, and profit. Little attention from researchers has been given to unskilled workers, a significant portion of the workforce.

This study investigates the relation between turnover among unskilled workers and financial performance using data from 527 hotels owned by the same lodging chain. The workers in our sample are full-time housekeepers and front desk attendants.

We find that the relation between turnover and performance differs by turnover type (voluntary vs. involuntary) and category of unskilled worker, reiterating the need to differentiate between turnover type and the importance of context in studying turnover. We challenge the assumption that voluntary turnover is categorically harmful and our results for front desk attendants support the view that organizations choose turnover levels that maximize performance. We also provide new evidence on the effects of involuntary turnover. Contrary to the established notion that dismissing less able employees should improve performance, we find that involuntary turnover has negative consequences.

Our results demonstrate the importance of distinguishing voluntary turnover from involuntary turnover and the need to include both in models predicting turnover’s performance effects.

Unlike manufacturing firms where the production of goods can be adjusted according to the demand of customers, hospitality firms do not have the ability to alter the capacity of the changing demand of guests in a short period of time. Given the relatively fixed capacity or supply, maximizing revenue through inventory control is essential for hospitality operations. This chapter covers operations inventory control extracted from the field of revenue management. First, the concept of capacity management and planning is enclosed and various capacity management tactics and inventory control strategies are explored. Next, the management and principles of space inventory through inventory-based restrictions, strategic pricing, displacement analysis, and distribution channel management are addressed. Finally, the respective applications of these principles, strategies, and tactics in several hospitality sectors are discussed.

This chapter examines the pricing, demand (occupancy), and revenue per available room (RevPAR) dynamics of European hotels for the period 2006–2007. The importance of understanding the pricing behavior of direct competitors is critical to effective strategy formulation and meaningful industry analysis. Nevertheless, existing demand studies miss a critical link to local market dynamics. This study offers an alternative approach to examining competitive set pricing behavior that yields insights into the inelasticity of lodging demand. The results of this study of over 3,000 European hotel observations reveal that hotels that offered average daily rates (ADRs) above those of their direct competitors had lower comparative occupancies but higher relative RevPARs. The observed pattern of demand and revenue behavior was consistent for hotels in all market segments from luxury to economy. Country-specific analyses reveal a similar pattern, with more volatility in the results for hotels in Spain and Italy. Overall, the results suggest that the best way for a hotel to have higher revenue performance than its competitive group is to maintain higher rates. The results of this study support the position that hotel operators who resist pressures to undercut competitor's prices may be better served with higher revenues.

This chapter discusses techniques for scheduling and organizing staff to meet guest demands and financial obligations. Key building blocks relevant to labor management are explained, such as productivity, fixed and variable labor hours, and the development of realistic performance standards to help organizations optimize productivity. As a next step, this chapter illuminates the importance of providing management labor standards and staffing models, which are key management tools. Lodging and food and beverage labor strategies are presented. Finally, effective planning of labor scheduling is also discussed.

This study examines how firms’ use of competitor-focused accounting information, specifically competitor monitoring information, impacts their pricing, demand, and overall revenue performance. The monitoring activities examined are the scope of monitoring, monitoring above and below one’s own hotel class (i.e., market segment), and the extent of reciprocity of monitoring. Competitor analysis is a central element in strategic management accounting (SMA), yet little empirical research has been done since companies do not disclose competitor monitoring activities. Proving the value of competitive monitoring provides strong support for SMA. Archival, proprietary monitoring information regarding pricing, demand, and revenue were obtained from one of the largest hotel markets in the United States. Using regression, we modeled the relationships between performance measures (pricing, demand, and revenue) and monitoring behaviors, while controlling for quality (hotel characteristics and management skill), competitive intensity, hotel class, geographic location, and ownership type. Our results indicate that two aspects of competitor monitoring impact hotel pricing that, in turn, impacts hotel demand and revenue performance. Specifically, a hotel monitoring more competitors (what we refer to as Scope) achieves higher prices with unchanged demand, resulting in higher revenue performance. Most hotels monitor within their class. However, deviating from one’s class has profound outcomes: looking at lower (higher) quality hotels results in a hotel setting lower (higher) prices, resulting in higher (unchanged) demand and lower (higher) revenue performance. Surprisingly, we did not find support for the reciprocity of monitoring. That is, whether the competitors monitored by a hotel, in turn follow the target, has no impact on hotel revenue performance outcomes. While the SMA literature notes the importance of competitor monitoring, this study fills a gap in an important, under-researched area by documenting the link between competitor monitoring behaviors and organizational revenue performance. This may help promote greater diffusion of SMA practices.

Purpose – This article examines the operating lease cost stickiness characteristics exhibited by retail firms.

Methodology/approach – Anderson, Banker, and Janakiraman (2003) laid important groundwork for the study of asymmetric cost behavior or cost stickiness. The authors found that a firm’s selling, general, and administrative costs (SG&A) costs increase more with a sales increase than those expenses decrease with an equivalent sales decline. Their findings provided avenues for many studies with differing focal variables; however, extant research has not explored the degree of cost stickiness associated with operating lease expenses. Recognizing the nature and magnitude of operating leases and the competitive and changing environment for retailers, this study adapts Anderson et al.’s (2003) model to provide insights into operating lease stickiness. The study uses archival financial data from 1997 through 2016 for specialty retail firms in testing the lease cost stickiness hypotheses.

Findings – The results of this study supported the hypotheses that operating lease expenses exhibit stickiness behavior and are relatively stickier than future lease commitments for retail firms.

Originality/value – By focusing on retail firms and related lease expenses, this study provides insights into the increasingly competitive retailer environment. This article’s findings will enhance understanding of how specialty retail firms’ managers react to reduced revenues. Finally, given recent authoritative pronouncements affecting accounting for leases and the significance of leasing transactions, research providing insights into cost behavior and managerial actions stands to make an important contribution to literature and practice.

Delivering services that create memorable luxury accommodation experiences rely on frontline staff to engage guests on a sensory level rather than merely a functional one. This engagement includes cognitive, emotional, relational and behavioural. Hospitality and tourism industries are people-orientated – people are needed to serve people in order to create desired experiences – and it is very difficult to create satisfaction or to revisit intention in every interaction that takes place. It is this intangible characteristic of the industries, provisions and tangible cues that play an important part in enhancing the overall luxury accommodation experience. Guests are very clear as to what they expect from luxury accommodation experiences: they feel that they are paying for a service that should be personalised, and that staff should realise what they want and need. The human interaction component and the co-creation that occurs between staff and guests is an essential dimension of the industry. The influence of these interactions on guest experiences and the delivery of services will be explored in this chapter.

This study explores the short- and medium-term effects generated by the Milan Expo 2015, adopting a microeconomic approach. The focus is on the hospitality sector. The study embraces nine years, identifying three intervals: pre- (2011–2014), during- (2015) and post-Expo (2016–2019). The time span does not include the Covid-19 pandemic period, which started in 2020. The dataset is composed of daily data. Three research questions are explored. First, an overall evaluation of the short- and medium-term effects is performed. Second, the seasonal effects are measured. Finally, the impacts for different classes of hotels are considered. The findings are supportive for the legacy generated by the Milan Expo. The results confirm the ability of the Milan Expo to strengthen the leisure segment. Positive results have been observed for all classes of hotels, relevantly augmenting the real revenue per available room (RevPAR). Luxury hotels achieved the highest increase of RevPAR, while economy class hotels registered the highest percentage of increase of RevPAR.

Prior research suggests that hospitality firms behave differently than other firms in terms of financing and investment issues. Such behavior may be attributable in part to agency problems and corporate governance structures in hospitality firms. This paper contains a report of an investigation into whether corporate governance mechanisms differ in hospitality firms relative to other industries. Our findings suggest that hospitality firms are more likely to experience agency problems than are nonhospitality firms. Hospitality firms have lower governance control mechanisms, better financial performance and higher-quality earnings than nonhospitality firms. An understanding of corporate governance control mechanisms helps to reduce agency problems and improves the hospitality firm's performance in the hospitality corporation.

This article presents findings of a Delphi study that predicts events most likely to impact marketing to consumers in lodging, food service and clubs segments for year 2007. Two rounds of questionnaires were mailed to panels of industry experts within each sector, with an overall response rate of 42%. Findings suggest that the two overarching marketing trends will be convenience as a driver of consumer choice and marketing to an aging population.